Archives for October 2013

The first time I met Mariel from The Learning Basket, we talked about homeschooling, reading and raising children. I admire all of these homeschooling moms and their children. I’m thinking that it takes great discipline and effort to be able to go through the daily grind of teaching your children. Baby Zeeka is just 7 months and I haven’t really thought about whether I should homeschool or send her to traditional school. Before deciding, I know that I should look at homeschooling closely and learn more about it. That is why i’m excited for this homeschooling conference that is brought to you by Manila Workshops and The Learning Basket, and co-sponsored by Victory Christian International School, Digilearn Multimedia and Genyo e-Learning.

In this homeschooling conference, You Can Homeschool! Be Inspired, Be Informed, Be Empowered!, there will be different talks about homeschooling. The key speakers of the event, Thammie Sy, Frannie Daez, and Edric Mendoza, who have all found their calling in homeschooling their children will share insights and learnings. The event will be a whole day of learning on November 16, 2013, Saturday, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM at One Events and Café, One Corporate Center, Julia Vargas cor Meralco Ave, Pasig City. The fee is at Php 1200 per attendee or if you are coming a a group of two or more, the fee will be at Php 1000 per participant. This already included lunch!

You can sign up using this form:

Some highlights to look forward to are the following:
• Be inspired by our speakers as they share about homeschooling from the heart, developing the homeschooling mindset, and how to homeschool in the Philippines
• Testimonials from children who have experienced learning at home.
• An overview of the homeschooling providers in the country, and the various services that they offer.
• Intimate break-out discussions with homeschooling parents

At the end of this summit, the event hope to inspire parents to take on an active role in the education of their child, whether they decide to homeshcool or not. The event wants parents to be empowered with the inspiration and knowledge they have gained to take on the role of “teacher” in their homes.

One of the sponsors of the event, Bee Happy Crafts and Party Supplies, will be giving away these prizes to one lucky winner through my blog:

All you have to do is join by following these steps:
1. Follow/Like Bee Happy Crafts in the following accounts: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
2. Like Manila Workshops in Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
3. Like the Learning Basket on Facebook
4. Leave your name and email address as a comment below.

This giveaway will run from October 9 – 23, 2013. I will choose the winner on October 25. 🙂

My birthday was last Tuesday and it’s almost one week of being 33. A lot of things happened this week — both good and bad.

This week, Zeeka had colds and cough. Kakainis! This was the first time she has ever gotten colds and cough. My pedia cousin though said that this is normal. During the first six months, she tells me, the baby still has the antibodies that she got from the mother. It’s during the 6 month that the immune system of the baby weakens.

I hated seeing her suffer. It was actually worse than the hand, foot and mouth disease that she had. I didn’t see her suffer like this during that time. For babies, you really need to use an aspirator since they still don’t know how to breathe through their mouth. Baby Zeeka would scream and shout when I would try to suck out all the mucus out of her nose. Huhuhu! I also gave her Disudrin (o.5 mL) three times a day and she also had to take anti-biotics, Pediamox (1.2mL), three times a day. She is still not done taking her antibiotics. Poor girl!

Baby Zeeka not feeling well… on the way to the Pedia

At least, she’s better now. She felt better during my birthday, too, so we got to go out. Check out our matching outfits during that day.

Family picture during my 33rd Birthday

My Little Zeeka and I with Matching outfits

Dada Ej treated me and Zeeka (and yaya) to breakfast at Early Bird Breakfast Club. I would normally sleep until late when I plan ‘not to work’ on certain days, but since it was my birthday, it was too fabulous a day to waste. I wanted to start the day early. I had an amazing breakfast too of fish cooked in lemon garlic sauce. After breakfast, we then had coffee at Figaro, which was just a few steps away.

Yummy Breakfast! Fish… para healthy

Coffee Art at Figaro

I then left Baby Zeeka first at home, so she could sleep while EJ and I went to mass with my parents. After mass, we picked up our little girl and headed straight to SM Aura where we ate at Tamarind, the Thai restaurant on the 5th level. It was the birthday treat of my parents. AFter lunch, we headed straight to Starbucks, where we had coffee and where we saw Dominic Ochoa. He was a pleasant and down-to-earth guy. He willingly had a picture taken with Zeeka (or rather, Zeeka willingly had her picture taken with him… haha!).

Baby Zeeka with Dominic Ochoa (actor)

Another highlight of the week was that we got to have another run of the Yes Mommy workshop at Medele House. Yey! This workshop seems to be an annual event/workshop already. Of course, I would like to thank all those who attended and to Unilab for Co-sponsoring the event. BTW, I found this love for Disudrin (as mentioned above). It really helped Baby Zeeka get through her colds.

The 2nd run of the Yes Mommy Workshop

Mommy Ginger and Baby Zeeka with Mommy Phoebe and Baby Ava

Other highlights were…

Bronuts

I finally got to try Bronuts! I will create a review of this in my other blog, ManilaReviews.com.

My strong Baby Girl

My little girl started crawling ‘forward’ already. She usually crawls backwards. Also, check out how strong she is already. She can stand by just holding her hands!

Opened another account for Baby Zeeka

I again opened another account for Baby Zeeka. It was a In Trust account for her. I already have account number one for her where savings will be kept (cash gifts for her birthday). This account number two will actually be mommy and daddy’s disbursement account for Baby Z’s expenses, like her birthday, etc.

Our very own Christmas Tree

Christmas came very early this year! I already have our tree up. This is our very first Christmas tree as a family so I was excited to set it up. And guess what, I was the one who set it up since EJ was down with flu. The tree was a gift from Mommy Beth and Daddy Vic. I then bought the lights and the christmas balls from SM department store in SM Aura. I chose the pink and silver balls since it reminded me of Zeeka. She loves the color pink and she loves mirrors.

Urdaneta Clubhouse

And my last highlight is that I got to book the venue for Baby Zeeka’s first birthday already 🙂 We will have it at the clubhouse in Urdaneta Village.

So you see! It was a really eventful birthday week for me. This is the reason why it is only now that I got to write this post. How about you? How are you?

Happy Friday everyone! I’m taking a break first from Baby Zeeka’s Friday Fashion entry since my little Fashionista has cough and colds and wasn’t up for posing like a model these past few days. Today though, I have a very interesting guest in my blog. Her name is Mommy Pristine (I love her name!) and she is a mompreneur. She has an interesting business and I’m sure, a lot of you would want to hear from her.

Interview with Mompreneur Pristine Carmona Pascual of Party Please
Pristine is a happy wife for 5 years now and a delighted hands-on mother to a 3 year old boy. She loves all forms of art and the artsy fartsy in her was awakened when she moved to NY a year after she graduated College in 2001. She worked full-time in a Christian Church in midtown Manhattan as an Office Administrator and Children’s Ministry Director. She also had a part-time job in Anthropologie as a Sales Associate, where she was constantly surrounded by talented artists who spent hours and days working on their breathtaking window displays.

Ginger: Can you tell us more about your business? What is it about? Pristine: My business is called Party Please. Party Please is a boutique event styling company. Our goal is to style beautiful and personal events, always with a cherry on top so no 2 events are ever the same.

Ginger: How long have you been in business? Pristine: We have been in business since September 2011

Ginger: Who is your market? Pristine: Moms, bride-to-bes, basically anyone who wants their event to be beautifully styled with careful attention to detail.

Ginger: How did you come up with this idea?Pristine: I was planning the 1st birthday of my son in 2010 and wanted our venue to have an elegant yet fun atmosphere that both adults and kids can appreciate. After which, friends have asked me to style their parties too and the rest is history.

Ginger: What made you decide to start this kind of business?Pristine: I love creative and uniquely designed parties. I also love conceptualizing designs and doing arts and crafts. So I figured, why not spread beauty one party at a time?

Ginger: Were there any obstacles that you faced when you decided to pursue becoming a mompreneur? What are these? Pristine: I have a tendency to be a workaholic. There are times when I would lie awake at night in bed, storming up ideas. Last New Year’s eve, we were out on a vacation and I caught myself answering emails in our hotel room. That was when I realized that I should learn how to balance my time and be a wife and mom first before being the entrepreneur.

Ginger: What are three traits that you think a mompreneur should have when starting their own business?Pristine: I think a mompreneur should first be a devoted wife and mother. She should believe in her own uniqueness and skills, since there are a lot of competition out there who may have more time in their hands. And also to have fun running her business, if it is something that she is passionate about.

Ginger: Any unforgettable lesson that you learned as a Mompreneur?Pristine: That it’s okay to take a day off once in a while to keep the good vibes flowing.

Ginger: That is so true! I thinks I need to remind myself that, too! What advice can you give to other Mompreneurs?Pristine: Always remember that you are an amazing woman who’s doing an awesome job!

Ginger: Thank you so much, Pristine! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I wish you more success!

I’m happy that I have a loving and supportive husband, a cutiepie for a daughter, a great family and great friends. I even have a great business with great friends who are helping me run it, a great home with a great view, great blogs with great readers — basically, everything’s great. I thank God for that. I really do.

Yesterday evening though, I cried. I don’t know what happened to me. I just felt like crying. Nothing significant really happened yesterday to make me cry, aside from the fact that my daughter, Zeeka, had cough and colds and I was worried. I don’t know why, but after expressing milk at around 11:30 pm, I just felt like crying.

It was weird because prior to that time, I was full of hope and optimism. I was even telling EJ about the sermon of the priest in last Sunday’s mass where he was talking about Lazarus and the rich man. The priest mentioned that we all need to strive to seek for opportunities to serve others and to help others. I was giving Ej a pep talk that we need to see these ‘opportunities’ in everything that we do. Later that night, I guess, I found out that I was the one who needed a pep talk.

I went to our sala area where the TV was and thought of why I was crying. Yes, I am the type who analyzes everything, so I had to analyze, step back a bit and think of a reason why I was feeling the way I was. Sometimes, I over analyze things, but for this particular instance, I just had to think that I wasn’t just going crazy. I then got to the point where I drew the conclusion that I think I was feeling tired. And, knowing that it was my birthday tomorrow (since it was 12:00 am, Sept. 30), I wanted to just relax for a day.

What was making me tired? I am more tired now, I think, then when I was working. I think ‘I’ am making ‘me’ tired. I really don’t know how to relax. My husband asks me oftentimes, what did you do today. My usual answer is ‘Nothing much. The usual stuff’.

The usual stuff for me is made up of a lot of exploratory ‘business’ talks with people for Manila Workshops and my blogs, writing for my blogs and for sites that I am a contributor of, overseeing Manila Workshops’ event directors, trying to set up new businesses (right now, I am a part of three new ventures), managing and monitoring the finances of my businesses, creating presentations for my speaking engagements, attending online classes where I am enrolled in WHILE trying to also do the following: breastfeed Zeeka or express milk every three to four hours, carry her until she sleeps while yaya cleans the room, teach/ play with Zeeka and read to her, rush to the bank to pay bills, create plans for Zeeka’s birthday and fix the schedule for my business and household for the week.

I was trying to look at my life and I was indeed a busy girl. I guess it’s because whenever I get to meet people or whenever I discover things, I see a lot of opportunities where I could make this world a better place. What I do is I seize the opportunity and I go for it and I help out.

Although, for this year, I think I need to follow Ej’s advise and keep my life simple. I think I need to learn how to edit my own life, not just my articles. I need to set aside time for myself — to just ‘be’. I need to learn how not to think too much, how not to worry about a lot of things and how to just stay put and pray.

I need to be offline and not be online 24/7. I need to go back to yoga or running — yoga and running helps me relax and gives me more focus. I need to enjoy playing with Zeeka and not think about emails and plans while playing with her. I need to have more conversations with EJ during weekends and not look at my phone every 5 minutes. I need to stop and smell the roses.